the world, and their looms supplied England and all Europe 

 -with the best linen and woollen fabrics. In an age when 

 salted provisions were almost the sole winter diet of all classes, 

 the fisheries of the North Sea were nearly as important as the 

 manufactures of Flanders. These fisheries were well nigh 

 monopolised by the Hollanders, and were a rich mine of wealth 

 to the northern towns, while they trained a hardy and daring 

 race of sailors. In addition to their manufactures and their 

 fisheries, the Dutch had become the traders and carriers of the 

 European world. It was Dutch ships and Dutch sailors that 

 distributed throughout Europe the treasures brought by Spanish 

 and Portuguese fleets from the East and West Indies. 



The Netherlands were an appanage of the Spanish crown. 

 But the rich manufacturing and trading cities of Flanders and 

 Holland enjoyed considerable liberties and powers of local 

 self-government, granted to them from time to time by their 

 over-lords in exchange for heavy annual payments. It was 

 the attempt of the Spanish king Philip the Second to abolish 

 the charters of their towns, to stamp out their liberties, and 

 to suppress the Reformed Religion by means of the Inquisition, 

 that led to the rise of the Dutch Republic, and the long and 

 cruel war with the revolted Provinces, which lasted eighty 

 years (1566-1648), and finally resulted in the humiliation of 

 Spain. 



The Dutch revolt forms one of the most striking epochs in 

 history. It was the first blow struck in modern times for 

 human freedom and liberty of conscience against the despotism 

 of kings and the intolerance of priests. The power of the 

 strongest empire in the world was put forth to crush the 

 revolted citizens. Treachery, torture, and massacre . were 

 freely and ruthlessly employed. The butcheries of the Duke 

 of Alva still stand out pre-eminent in the bloody annals of 

 tyranny and persecution. The story, as we read it in the 

 graphic pages of Motley, bristles with deeds of ferocious cruelty 

 and blood. 



The struggle would have been hopeless, but that their 

 extremity taught the Dutch to find their strength upon the 

 sea. Powerless before their enemies on land, the patriots 

 took to the ocean. In small vessels their hardy sailors cut off 

 the Spanish supplies, made daring descents on sea-coast towns, 

 and in process of time set themselves to work to strike Spain 

 in her most vulnerable part, her commerce with" the New^ 

 World, from which she drew her wealth. The Beggars of 

 the Sea, as the Dutch rovers styled themselves, became the 

 terror of the richly laden galleons and haughty fleets of Spain. 

 Not only did they cut off the supplies of gold and silver 

 from the New World on which the Spanish King depended, 



